Triangle.

• Position: Regional Report - Column

TIMBERLAKE -- Miami-based Vector Group was to close its cigarette factory here in December, idling 150. The company is moving production of its Omni and Quest cigarettes to Mebane, where its Liggett Group division has a plant. It says the consolidation will save $23 million annually.

RALEIGH -- Capital Bank's board removed the interim from CEO William Burkhardt's title. Burkhardt, former CEO of snack maker Austin Quality Foods, took over after the resignation in August of James Beck, who quit after the company restated second-quarter earnings because of three bad loans.

RALEIGH -- The Carolina Hurricanes hockey team has spun off its multimedia department as Gale Force Media, which will offer video, animation, film, graphic-design, web-design, print and brand-management services. The company has 10 full-time employees.

RALEIGH -- First Citizens Bank formed a subsidiary to sell title insurance to mortgage and home-equity borrowers. Neuse Financial Services plans to start servicing commercial customers this year.

CARY -- SAS Institute, which makes and sells data-mining software, purchased Wake field, Mass.-based Market max, which makes software that tracks retail sales. Terms were not disclosed. Market max, which employs about 100, will operate as a division of SA. Among its clients are Lowes's, Home Depot and The Sports Authority.

RALEIGH -- Cerate, which specializes in construction and decontamination of laboratories, won a $12 million contract to build seven modular laboratories for U.S. Army hospitals in the United States and South Korea. The labs will be used to study hazardous organisms and will include decontamination units.

CHAPEL HILL -- The federal Food and Drug Administration rejected Poe's MT 300 migraine treatment because it doesn't relieve nausea and sensitivity to light and sound, common complaints for sufferers. Poe's, which is challenging the ruling, had planned to market the drug this year.

CARPENTER -- Durham-based Triangle Brick plans to reopen its plant and employ 35 here, but it has not set a date. The company closed the factory when it opened one in Waynesboro in 2001. Triangle Brick also plans to build a $35 million factory, which will employ about 50, in the Carolinas or Virginia. It hoped to pick a...